


mistakes like this

by creaturefromspace



Category: The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Happy Ending, House Party, One Shot, Spin the Bottle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:01:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27128930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/creaturefromspace/pseuds/creaturefromspace
Summary: Jamie, Dani, and a game of Spin the Bottle.
Relationships: Dani Clayton/Jamie
Comments: 42
Kudos: 625





	mistakes like this

Jamie walked into the party, taking delight in the familiar sounds of people four drinks past buzzed and trashy music meant for rowdy mood setting. She wasn’t a people person. How could she be when nobody really gave her a reason to think that they were worth the effort? The investment? Sure, there were some people she tolerated. People who made the effort with her and could actually carry a conversation about things other than boys or drugs.

But she didn’t need to be popular to have fun. Luckily for her, her town was small enough for her to get invited to all of the parties based on her good looks alone. Decent looks had to be good for something if they weren’t good enough to land her a girlfriend. The free booze was definitely it.

It didn’t take long for her to find herself with a drink in her hand. She normally stuck with beer, but tonight was a special night. At least, that’s what her horoscope had told her. She wasn’t really into astrology, but her coworker - and one of those aforementioned tolerable people - suggested she check it out. Said it would help her with the ladies.

She was no stranger to a rum and coke, but it tasted better tonight somehow. She was on her third before she knew it. It had been just over an hour, and she’d managed to drink without anyone truly bothering her. Her plan was always to stick to the edges of the rooms and nobody would even notice her. Deviating from the plan was her first mistake.

Jamie walked out into the living room of the big house she was in. It belonged to the parents of one of the football players. Predictable. The house was practically built for house parties. It just had one of those looks. The music was the loudest in that room, and a small crowd was gathered over by the sofas. People of all kinds were packed onto the cushions and onto the rug below, forming a misshapen circle.

She tried backing away, but it was too late. Someone had grabbed her arm and was leading her straight to the circle of evil. Breaking free would have been of no use. Not when she turned and saw that it was Rebecca who was leading her there. Nobody ever said no to Rebecca. Not even her, and she said no to everybody. Rebecca was just the kind of person who never had bad intentions. She was a saint.

“You came here to have fun, didn’t you?” Rebecca said into her ear. “Live a little. They won’t bite.”

Jamie could have argued with her about that, but decided to save her breath. Rebecca plopped them both down in a free space between people, and they completed the circle. There were some cheers as people grew excited for whatever game they were about to play to start. Jamie eyed the other people in the circle, feeling her heart pick up speed at the sight of Dani.

Dani was probably the most popular girl at their high school. She got all the best grades, had the most friends, and was naturally athletic on top of it all. She was one of those “boys want her and girls want to be her” girls. She was also devastatingly beautiful.

Jamie swallowed when Dani and her locked eyes, and she took a big drink from her cup as a partial excuse to break the eye contact and partially because she needed something to take the edge off. Jamie would be lying if she said she didn’t find the other girl attractive. Dani had slipped into some of her fantasies from time to time, but those were locked away inside a file in her brain labeled “delusions.”

Dani talked to her sometimes. Of course she did. Dani talked to everyone. It was never anything to make a big deal out of. She’d ask her about homework, college applications, if she could borrow a pencil that she’d never return. Jamie didn’t exactly mind her, but she wasn’t looking for any more reasons for her brain to have her on her mind.

“Everyone ready for a good old game of Spin the Bottle?” Peter asked, whisking an empty bottle of Captain Morgan White Rum into the center of the circle.

He was clearly the one leading the game. People listened to him because he was conventionally attractive, and he ate every last bit of the attention up. He was clearly drunk, but then again, so was everyone else. Jamie was practically there herself.

Spin the Bottle wasn’t the most creative thing they could have been playing, but it was better than Truth or Dare. Jamie didn’t mind kissing a couple of strangers. It was a fairly innocent concept for a bunch of horny seventeen year olds.

A flickering thought of the bottle landing on Dani on her spin made her stomach flip, and she pushed it far away into the crevices of her mind where it would fester there and die.

“You start us off, Becs,” Peter said, winking at Rebecca.

Rebecca reached forward for the bottle and spun. It landed on some basketball player and people went crazy when their lips touched. Jamie found herself smiling, surprisingly amused. The game order went to Rebecca’s right, which meant Jamie would be the last to spin in the round. About three people in, they hit their first case of same-sex kissing.

The two girls left with the task looked more repulsed than not, and kept finding excuses to keep from doing it. The guys were practically begging for it, no surprise there. Jamie wanted to see it happen, too, though, if only to see something with her own two eyes that she never had before.

“You guys are making this into a way bigger deal than it is,” Dani said, directing all eyes over to herself.

Even Jamie looked, surprised by the outburst and curious to see what would come next. The other girls continued to attempt to explain why it was gross, but Dani wasn’t having it.

“It’s just like kissing a boy, but better,” she said, looking over to Jamie. “Right, Jamie?”

Jamie felt like she’d been struck by a car moving at 90mph. All eyes shifted over to her, and the attention made her queasy. Dani clearly singled her out because she was the only gay girl at their school. A few of the guys started cackling, and Jamie realized that they were making fun of her. She stared at the ground, keeping her mouth shut to prevent spurring them on.

Eventually the two girls kissed. A peck that resulted in them fervently wiping their mouths clean with their hands. It was nowhere near worth the attention it had garnered. The game kept going after that. When it was Dani’s turn, Jamie watched with bated breath while she kissed Edmund, one of the many men trapped under Dani’s spell. The guy practically toppled over when it was done.

By the time it was finally Jamie’s turn, she was ready to go home. Her drink was empty and her body was numb. She spun the bottle to get it over with and watched as it did three full rotations before sputtering out and remaining perfectly still. Jamie followed the base of the bottle up to the neck, her eyes tracing upwards until they hit the face of Dani. Just her luck.

She thought about declining and walking away, but nobody would have forgiven her for that. There was nothing worse than a buzz-kill. Going to these parties was the only thing that made high school semi-manageable, so she couldn’t risk not playing along. In the background, people were getting excited again. She thought Dani might look disappointed about having to kiss her, but there was an arrogance on her face that had Jamie thrown for a loop.

Jamie blinked and it seemed like in the moment it took for her eyelids to pry themselves open again, Dani was right in front of her. The only two options she had were to kiss her or run away.

Jamie reached a hand behind Dani’s head, closing the gap between their faces and bringing their lips flush against each other. Dani sighed against her mouth, and Jamie parted her lips in wonderment, only to feel Dani’s tongue slip inside. Kissing with tongue during Spin the Bottle wasn’t exactly unheard of, but nobody who wasn’t attracted to their partner ever did it.

Jamie broke away first, staring back at Dani with furrowed eyebrows. Dani merely looked dazed, but that could have been from the alcohol. People clapped and made comments about them, but Jamie tuned it all out. She excused herself from the circle, and nobody tried to stop her. Not even Rebecca, who had gotten her into that situation in the first place.

For a moment, she toyed with the possibility of Dani coming after her, because maybe there was a small part of her that thought the kiss had meant something other than some silly game. But no one followed, and she was left alone in the kitchen with the rest of the trash.

Jamie left almost immediately after that. The walk home was nice, and the fresh air helped her think. If there was one thing she knew for certain, it was that astrology was one big lie.

\-----

A few days had passed since the party. Life went back to normal, the way it always did. Jamie had finally been able to forget the feeling of Dani’s lips against her own, which did wonders for her sanity. She didn’t want to have a crush on a straight girl. That was the first thing they taught you not to do in Gay 101.

She’d seen Dani around the school multiple times. Dani hadn’t ever paid her any attention, save for a few quick glances. Jamie accepted the idea that she was probably going to avoid her like the plague for the rest of their senior year, and that was fine by her. She didn’t need any more complications than she already had.

As Jamie walked over to the school’s library after her last class of the day let out, she was surprised to feel someone come up beside her and match her pace step for step. Taking off her headphones, she turned to see Dani, who waved a little too giddily. Jamie stopped walking, and the two of them stood facing one another, motionless.

“How are you?” Dani asked, smiling.

Jamie stared at her, lifting a shoulder weakly. “Fine. Why?”

“Um, well, I just thought you might be wondering about what happened at the party last weekend. I hope you don’t think I was coming onto you or anything like that.”

Jamie smiled bitterly to herself as her own conclusion had been confirmed. Dani was not gay, never had been. Their kiss had merely been for the game. The tongue was just the cherry on top in making the rest of the living room go ape shit. Dani was just another straight girl worried that the only gay girl in their school was crushing on her.

“Don’t worry about it,” Jamie said, continuing to walk.

Dani kept up. “I don’t mean it in a bad way. It’s just- Well, girls, aren’t really my thing, you know?”

“Dani, it’s fine. Trust me. I didn’t think there was anything more to it than a game. It won’t happen again.”

“Right,” Dani whispered, but she didn’t sound so sure. “Um, as long as you know it won’t happen again, I guess it’s fine. I’ll, uh, see you around.”

Jamie almost watched her walk away, but there would have been no point to it. Shaking her head, she slipped her headphones back on over her ears and went inside the library. Not that she’d be able to get much work done after that conversation.

\-----

She was at the next party. Could you blame her? If there was ever a time where she needed to drink, now was it. Jamie made herself a vodka soda, once again staying far away from the beer. Beer just took too long to kick in. She needed something she was going to feel fast.

Jamie made sure to steer clear of the living room that night. No good could ever come of it, she was sure. There was just as much craziness going on in the backyard, so she opted for hanging out in the hallway. Only a few pairs of people were there, but there was enough space for her to keep her distance from them. The lighting was dim, which only worked in her benefit as she focused on staying off of everyone’s radar. The music wasn’t as loud in the hallway, but it was loud enough to keep her from thinking about the fact that Dani was probably somewhere under that roof.

As if she’d been summoned, Dani appeared in front of her, one hand in the pocket of her tight jeans, and the other nursing a drink. Jamie stared at her, expecting her to keep moving. She stayed.

“What are you doing in the hallway?” Dani asked, almost laughing.

Jamie straightened her posture, gaining back the couple inches of height she had the advantage over her of. “I’m hoping that if I hang out here, no one will talk to me.”

Dani looked like she was blushing. She was probably embarrassed, but Jamie didn’t care that she’d basically told the other girl to fuck off. What was even the point in talking any more?

“I see. I’m actually trying to avoid people right now, too,” Dani said, brushing her comment off. “It can all just be a bit too much sometimes.”

Jamie doubted she knew anything about that, but nodded anyway. “Yeah, well, you should find your own hiding place. This one’s mine.”

Dani laughed like it had been a joke, and Jamie smiled at the sound despite herself. It wasn’t fair that Dani had the sweetest laugh she’d ever heard. And Jamie had never made her laugh before. It would have been impossible to keep a straight face, even if she’d tried.

“Hey, can I ask you something?”

Jamie internally groaned. “Sure.”

“Why do you come to all the parties if you hate talking to other people? I mean, shouldn’t parties be, like, your worst nightmare or something?”

Jamie wasn’t expecting a question like that. It wasn’t a hard one for her to answer, but Dani’s curiosity is what had her confused. Why did she care to know? It made no difference to her, right?

“I come for the free booze,” Jamie answered, lifting up her red solo cup for emphasis. “And it's not that I hate talking to people, they just bore me.”

“Even me?” Dani asked, eyeing her up in a way that made her shift her balance from one leg to the other.

Dani seemed to have noticed she’d made Jamie uncomfortable, and for some reason looked delighted by it. Jamie couldn’t help herself, though. At the end of the day, Dani was still gloriously beautiful and somewhat intimidating.

“C’mon, let me show you something,” Dani said, not even waiting for a reply.

Jamie didn’t object. She didn’t even think she could. She allowed Dani to wrap her fingers around her wrist and guide her over to one of the empty rooms in the hallway. The room was dark, but Dani didn’t turn on the lights as she shut and locked the door behind them. Jamie turned around to ask her what was going on, but the words slipped from her mind the moment she felt her back being pushed up against the wall and warm lips on her own.

Dani must have had time to set her own drink down, but Jamie didn’t. She let the solo cup topple out of her hands, knowing her drink had spilled out, but reassuring herself it was okay because the rooms had tile instead of carpet. Not that any of that mattered.

Dani’s perfume wafted up into her nose and Jamie held on tight, basking in the alluring scent of the other girl. It was enough to make her head spin, and she knew she hadn’t had enough to drink for it to have been the alcohol. She didn’t question what was going on. She didn’t want to. In the dark like that, it was almost okay for them to be doing this with no questions asked.

Before she knew it, Dani’s tongue was in her mouth again. Jamie was ready for it this time and pulled the other girl even closer to her, a feeling of satisfaction warming her bones at the sound of Dani’s soft moan. Jamie slipped a knee between Dani’s legs and felt the other girl immediately cling onto her, slowly rocking against it.

Jamie wanted so much from her in that moment. She wanted Dani to keep kissing her, to keep holding her, and to tell her that it was okay that she wanted to do things to her that should never leave that bedroom. Without her own mind’s permission, Jamie felt her hand slipping underneath the pink cotton of Dani’s shirt, startled by how warm her skin was.

Dani jumped slightly at the contact, but only pulled her closer, nipping and sucking at her mouth as she went along. Jamie’s fingers teased the edges of lace in Dani’s bra, wondering if it was okay to slip her fingers beneath the flimsy material. She didn’t get to wonder for very long.

The sound of the doorknob turning startled them both. The door had been locked, so nobody could have gotten in anyway, but it was enough of a scare to snap them out of the daze they were both in. Although they couldn’t see each other through the darkness, the heat from their bodies were still radiating against one another. They panted heavily into the night.

“That was… What was that, Dani?” Jamie asked, as finally her brain started to catch up with the rest of her.

She never got a reply. Dani was out the door before Jamie had time to even feel her go. Nothing really made sense about any of it, but Jamie didn’t care. She felt like she was being toyed with, and that angered her. She left the party early for the second time that month, pissed off and embarrassingly turned on.

\-----

She thought she should have expected to be approached at some point, but Jamie was hoping she would have just been left alone instead. Two whole glorious weeks had gone by without having to interact with Dani at all. She was finally back to sleeping a whole eight hours again, but it seemed to have all been for nothing.

Dani sat down next to her outside of their school’s auditorium. She was wearing a dress with flowers on it, and Jamie wondered if the other girl had done it intentionally. Flowers were her favorite thing in the whole world.

“What do you want?” Jamie asked, failing to hide her irritation.

Dani wrung her hands nervously. “Did you tell anyone? About what happened…”

Jamie rolled her eyes. “No, of course not. I don’t see how that would be anybody else’s business. Truth be told, I don’t even want to think about what happened.”

“You’re mad.”

“You think?” Jamie knew she had snapped, but it was all a bit too much for her at this point. “Dani, I don’t know what game you’re playing at, but I don’t like humor when it comes at my expense.”

“I really didn’t mean to upset you like this. I don’t know what came over me,” Dani said, trying and failing to garner any sympathy for her actions from the brunette. “I’ve just been thinking a lot and trying to make sense of some stuff.”

“Well, whatever you have going on, just leave me out of it. I have enough on my plate without having to think about this.”

“I’m sorry, Jamie. I know you don’t believe me, but I really mean it.”

Dani left and Jamie wondered why she felt like the asshole.

\-----

Jamie decided that if she was ever going to show her face at another party again, she wouldn’t be doing it alone. She invited her coworker who’d given her the lame astrology advice to tag along with her, thinking that they’d have a perfect night together. Nothing complicated, just fun.

“Thanks for coming out with me tonight, Hannah,” she said, smiling at her coworker. “I know parties aren’t really your thing, but I could not show up here alone tonight.”

“Sure thing,” Hannah said, following Jamie inside of the big house filled with raging teenagers. “Maybe I’ll actually enjoy myself.”

They went into the kitchen to get drinks, taking a seat at the table as they chatted about work and such. Hannah was an easy person to talk to. She was good at filling dead air and never had a mean thing to say about anyone. Jamie looked up to her in many ways.

It was great to see Hannah outside of her comfort zone. The other girl hardly ever let loose to have fun, despite only being a couple years older than Jamie. It must have been something to do with her upbringing.

Hannah knew all about Jamie’s troubles with Dani. She found the whole thing to be extremely interesting and was always fishing for more information. The older girl thought that maybe Dani was confused and Jamie shouldn’t have been so hard on her, but Jamie found that idea to be preposterous. If there was one person who knew exactly what they wanted, it was Dani Clayton.

They talked and laughed most of the night away. It only got easier once the alcohol was flowing. Jamie wondered how long Dani had been in the kitchen with her friends when she noticed the other girl across the room from her. She thought about subtly pointing her out to Hannah, but it would have been pointless.

Dani was heading their way.

Jamie felt her heart start to race and Hannah seemed to pick up on something being off, because she followed the direction Jamie had been looking in and noticed Dani nearing the table. She looked up at Dani once she was standing right in front of them, but Jamie’s attention stayed trained on her mixed drink and the melting ice cubes dancing away in there.

“Hi, I’m Dani. I don’t think we’ve met yet,” Dani said, extending a hand forward to Hannah who reluctantly shook it.

“I’m Hannah.”

Jamie risked a glance up at Dani and could tell that the smile on her face was totally for show. If it were anybody else, she may have actually believed they were jealous. But because it was Dani, she was at a loss for what the other girl could have been thinking.

“Jamie, how are you?” Dani asked.

“Uh, I’m good. Just hanging out with Hannah. Having a good time.”

Dani’s smile faltered slightly. “Um, are you guys…” She gestured lamely between the two of them. “Are you…”

“No,” Hannah answered, understanding what she was implying. “Jamie is just a friend. We work together at the flower shop downtown, actually. She just invited me out tonight and I happened to be free.”

Jamie didn’t think Dani deserved the explanation, but there was something about the relief in her eyes at Hannah’s answer that made Jamie’s stomach flip. Maybe there was some validity to what Hannah had thought.

“Oh, I’m just not used to seeing Jamie with friends,” Dani said, her voice a lot smaller than it had been before. “I bet it’s a delight to work with her.”

“It is,” Hannah confirmed. “Dani, is it? Jamie’s actually told me a lot about you.”

Jamie’s eyes darted over to her friend as soon as the words left her mouth. Hannah looked as put together as ever, so Jamie couldn’t even blame her loose lips on the alcohol. She might just kill her friend later.

“She does?” Dani sounded almost… hopeful.

“Yes.” Hannah smiled warmly at the other girl. “I’m pleased to meet you.”

“Uh, same here.”

Dani reached for the other woman’s hand again and shook it, this time genuinely and with much more ease. It was almost endearing enough to make Jamie’s heart race. She looked over at Dani, wanting so badly to see inside of her head and figure her out. Dani’s eyes wandered over to her, and she smiled shyly.

“Jamie, can we talk?”

Despite every nerve ending in her body screaming at her not to go anywhere alone with Dani again, she found herself nodding as she got to her feet and followed the other girl out of the kitchen. Hannah shot her an enthusiastic thumbs up on her way out. They went out into the front yard and found a quiet spot by the gate to talk, where the sounds of the party easily faded away into white noise.

Dani looked remorseful, and Jamie started to think she may be getting another apology. At the very least, maybe an explanation. She waited patiently, not wanting to rush or guide the conversation.

“I’m sure you hate me by now,” Dani began, staring down at the ground. “I’m sure I’d hate me too if I were you.”

“I don’t hate you,” Jamie quickly corrected. “Just for the record.”

Dani seemed to lighten up a bit at that. “Well, I would understand if you did, but I’m glad that you don’t.” She paused, exhaling deeply. “Damn, I should have brought a drink for this.”

“Are you okay?” Jamie asked, confused by her anxiousness.

“I’m fine. It’s just that I have something kind of heavy to say, and I would really appreciate the liquid courage right about now.”

“I can run back inside and grab you something,” Jamie offered, already on her way.

Dani reached an arm out to stop her and effortlessly pulled Jamie back over to her. Their bodies crashed against one another awkwardly, and Jamie thought about making a comment about it when she noticed how close their faces were to each other. Dani was staring deeply into her eyes, a blaze of conflict behind those grey-blue orbs.

That time, Jamie wasn’t sure which one of them closed the gap first. All she knew was that Dani’s lips were on hers for the third time and she was starting to grow accustomed to the way that they felt. Their moment lasted all of a minute before Jamie pulled away, fueled by an irrational anger that felt uncontrollable as she thought about the confusion Dani had caused her recently. And even though the kiss may have been partially her fault that time, she couldn’t bring herself to accept any of the blame for it.

“You have to stop doing that, Dani! You’re fucking with my head,” Jamie said, raising her voice in a way she only ever did when she was passionate about something.

“And liking you so much is fucking with mine,” Dani retorted, her voice raised as well.

“What?”

Jamie didn’t even hear her own voice. All she could focus on was the scared look on Dani’s face as she was left panting from her own rage and the heated kiss they’d shared moments before. Jamie could feel how dry her mouth was and the way her stomach had the sensation it got whenever she was on a rollercoaster. Dani looked ashamed and turned away, hiding her eyes from Jamie, who was able to see too much in them.

“Jamie, I’ve liked you for a while now,” Dani revealed, her eyes wide with emotion. “Ever since you sat across from me in the library for your tutoring session sophomore year and I was tutoring the student next to you. I remember not being able to focus on the assignment I was helping with because all I could think about was how beautiful your eyes were and wonder why I hadn’t seen you around before. Ever since then, I’ve been trying to pretend like those feelings aren’t real. I never saw myself being attracted to women. But denying it just isn’t working anymore.”

Jamie was at a loss for words. Two years of the hottest and kindest girl in school pining after her when she was an absolute mess of a person. Not to mention the fact that she was a girl. But she knew she wasn’t dreaming. Not even a dream could have been this good.

“Can you say something?” Dani asked, sounding smaller than herself.

Jamie hadn’t even noticed she’d been quiet for so long. Her mind was racing with a million thoughts, and her heart was experiencing a million different emotions. Ultimately, she knew what she thought and how she felt. And Dani deserved a response.

“I’m sorry, I was just thinking about it. About how I never caught on. You liked me, and I never would have guessed it. Even after you kissed me at the last party, I still thought it was all a joke or something. This is beyond anything I ever could have imagined.”

“I hadn’t been planning on kissing you that night,” Dani told her. “But you looked so good and you were standing in the hallway all alone. It’s like you were placed in my path for a reason. I saw that I made you nervous, and it made me want you like I’ve never wanted anything or anyone else before. I couldn’t help myself.”

“It was one hell of a kiss,” Jamie admitted, chuckling to herself. “They’ve all been.”

“Yeah.”

Dani smiled sweetly at her. Jamie reached for her hand, cautiously wrapping her fingers around Dani’s slender ones. A warm feeling took over her body, and she knew Dani was experiencing the same one by the way the other girl was looking at her.

“So, what happens now?”

Jamie thought about it. “Now, we can figure out how to go about this and be on the same page for once. For starters, I’d like to take you out. On a date. If that’s alright with you.”

Dani nodded. “A date. I’d love that.”

“And maybe kiss you at the end of it. If you promise not to run away, that is.”

“Definitely no more running,” Dani promised.

They laughed about it now. They leaned forward into each other so that their foreheads were resting against each other. Jamie felt her eyes flutter close and took in a deep breath of Dani’s perfume. The fragrance soothed her beating heart. Dani held tightly onto her hand.

It wasn’t exactly how she expected her night to go, but Jamie wasn’t about to start complaining. She had a date with Dani Clayton.

What could there possibly be to complain about?

**Author's Note:**

> Based off the song by Prelow. Thanks for reading, everyone!


End file.
